Cipher and Talisman dove in in search for the X-02 Wyverns ZAFT had fielded among their withering anti-air fire.
"I have to admit…" Talisman said as he wove through streams of bullets. "ZAFT really values their anti-air when it matters."
"I think it's just the Tiger." Cipher pulled up to avoid a shot from a rather gutsy man on the ground with a rocket launcher. "The prison ship didn't seem to care about anti air all that much."
"Yeah, I guess. 3 o'clock, Cipher." Talisman turned sharply.
"I see it." Cipher looked down at the BaCue that had its attention focused elsewhere.
"Cipher, your six." Cipher suddenly heard Neil's voice on the line.
"Got it." Cipher dove down into the BaCue, peppering it with his Vulcans, and then climbed high into a steep climb.
"I miss LAGMs." He said sadly as the missiles behind him were systematically shot down by Talisman.
"Cipher, two heat sigs on your five, one of them's Blaze, the other is probably a Wyvern." He heard.
"Ok. Thanks, Neil." Cipher headed towards the head signature that his systems didn't see.
"Sky Eye." He heard Neil's terse reply.
…
"Dammit, get off my back…!" Blaze snarled.
Blaze had evaded the Lessep's barrage of anti-aircraft and found the Wyvern with the heartbreak emblem on his tail almost instantly.
The two engaged in a short but fierce battle for position, with both planes alternatively swapping positions and taking wild shots at each other with their nose-mounted machine guns.
To make matters worse, at some point (he wasn't sure when) the Wyvern with the yellow wingtips had appeared on his tail. The combined forces of the two Wyverns forced Blaze to take some very harsh evasive maneuvers, practically steering him away from the fight entirely.
Mobius One was close on the tail of the Yellow Wyvern, but the sharp maneuvers its pilot was exhibiting in order to keep up with Blaze was making it difficult for him land anything other than the sporadic Vulcan hit.
"Guys, I need some serious help over here." Blaze said, taking another turn sharp enough to nearly hurt.
"We're on it, just keep on your toes." He heard Talisman say.
…
The pilot of the Yellow Wyvern smiled slightly.
"Sorry, kid, but this is business." The pilot of the Wyvern with the heartbreak emblem said with a small sigh. "I suggest you punch out soon or your body won't be able to take it."
...
Blaze pulled up high to avoid another streak of bullets.
A shot from a beam rifle streaked in front of him.
Blaze pulled harder and the beam fizzled uselessly high into the sky.
"What the hell…Sky Eye, what's going on?!" Blaze demanded.
"Four new contacts approaching from your two o'clock, three GINNs and one unknown. Watch yourselves up there." Sky Eye cursed his lack of proper equipment.
"Wonderful, just wonderful." Blaze rolled and braked, forcing the Wyverns to break off to avoid a collision. "Any other good news?!" He accelerated to follow the Wyvern closest to him.
"Yeah, stay still for a second." Mu said over the radio, his Skygrasper high in the air.
"Like I have the time for that!" Blaze gritted his teeth, focusing keeping the Wyvern with the yellow wingtips in his field of vision.
…
"Looks like those two fighters are giving the demons a hell of a fight." Dearka said with a small laugh. "Should we go help out, Yzak?"
"Of course."Yzak scowled. "Shoot them from the skies!"
"Roger that." Dearka grinned, watching his targeting radar as his unit landed on top of a Sand Dune and braced. "I'll just wait for the right moment, then."
Now, where's that Strike? Yzak thought to himself, scanning the sand dunes for a sign of the Gundam.
…
"Yzak! Move!"
Yzak did as he was told, exaggeratedly dodging a beam rifle shot seemingly from nowhere.
"What the hell?" He focused on the sand storm that was being kicked up from the ground, watching for a stream of green…
And then neatly dodged the second shot from a little ways left of where he was staring.
"Found you!" Yzak roared and kicked his engines into full power, launching his GINN to the ground like a comet.
…
Damn. Kira thought, and kicked his engines up as well, before doing what can only be called a twirl with his Strike.
…
The sandstorm Yzak was looking at suddenly exploded.
Yzak, obeying his sense of caution this time, decelerated and turned away to avoid being caught inside the massive sand cloud.
A beam shot from inside the cloud clipped his left wing engine, and his GINN spun out of control and collapsed on the ground.
…
"Great shot, Strike." Kira heard Sky Eye's voice over the warnings in his cockpit; the Strike did not like being in the desert very much. Kira then accelerated out of the dust cloud towards his shot.
…
"Yzak!" Dearka looked down at his friend's GINN.
"I'm fine." Yzak spat out. "I bit my tongue though."
Dearka sighed. "Sheesh. Watch yourself down there!"
"Nevermind that. Is he behind me?" Yzak asked, his mind quickly crunching some numbers.
"Yeah, he just came out of the cloud. Do you want me to"
"No, stay focused on the demons; I just need to tie him up." Yzak took a deep breath.
…
The Strike approached the downed GINN and watched it for a few seconds.
He's probably down; I need to focus on taking out the Lesseps. Kira thought, and turned to look at the giant land ship.
Instantly, the GINN kicked up a cloud of dust with its engines.
Kira snapped back to look at the GINN and sees nothing but dust.
Damn! Kira backpedaled to get out of the dust cloud.
…
The instant the Strike left the dust cloud, the GINN came charging in to his right.
The GINN's sword met the Strike's shield with a resounding clash.
I should've gone to his left. Yzak thought idly before using the imbalance in his propulsion to spin his unit wildly.
The GINN's sword, as a result, was repeatedly slammed into the shield until the shield bent.
The Strike moved its arm.
Yzak's GINN used its main engine to jump into the air, and brought down its sword with an awesome force on the Strike's head, forcing it to stagger forwards.
The Strike, in response, accelerated forward at maximum speed and slammed into the GINN with its head, causing the iconic V-shaped headpiece to stab into the GINN's armor and then snap off from the force of the impact.
With the GINN recoiling, Kira drew a beam saber and slashed upwards, destroying the GINN's sword. He then twisted and slashed sideways at the GINN.
The GINN jumped back and avoided the slash, before jumping forward with a kick, sending the Strike sliding backwards.
Kira threw away the shield and drew his other beam saber.
Yzak scowled. "I could use a hand here." He said to the rest of the GINNs.
In response, a GINN dropped a sword to Yzak, who plucked it from its resting position of a few feet into the sand dune.
"Thanks, Shiho." Yzak said with an audible grin, and pointed the sword point at the Strike.
...
The rebel forces with their jeeps were dying in all kinds of ways to the BaCues, mostly via being shot at by explosives.
…
Sky Eye had his hands full trying to coordinate the most ramshackle attack on a ship in his living memory.
"Rebel unit two three five, enemy approaching on your two o'clock, advise immediate counter-maneuver. Rebel unit two five eight, BaCue in front of you: stay alert."
"Even if you don't tell us" The man's voice on the radio was punctuated by the sound of RPGs and machineguns "we know!"
He then saw another blip disappear. "Unit two one nine is non-responsive. All remaining units stay alert for enemy attacks on your left flank."
He then opened a new line. "Sky Eye to Mobius One, can you assist the rebels on the ground?"
"That's a negative." Mobius One said gruffly. "I can't disengage from this position." He spared a glance towards Blaze, who's alternating between chasing a Wyvern and being chased by a Wyvern, occasionally both happening at once.
"I'm worried about Blaze. He's gotta be hitting his limit at this point." Mobius One muttered.
"Can you assist Blaze?" Sky Eye asked next.
"Also negative; the enemy pilots are skilled." Mobius One said. With the way the six pilots were flying, nobody has gotten enough time to lock with a missile.
"Oy! Aces! We're getting our asses shot up here! How 'bout a little help?" Mobius One heard over the general line. Damn.
The Four Aces were carrying only air to air ammo, and were nowhere near the Lesseps in either altitude or distance.
Then again, most of the rebels weren't near it either; the BaCues completely stopped any semblance of advancement the rebels had.
In fact, the Lesseps was confident enough to stop firing its anti-air guns entirely.
"Shit! This is going to hell in a hand basket!" Another rebel yelled.
…
"Well now you know how we feel." Cipher muttered, twisting to try and get a clear shot on the Wyvern in front of him. "Blaze, take a hit for us?"
"Like hell I will." Blaze laughed, dodging in every possible direction to avoid streams of machine gun fire from the Wyvern behind him. "How's the kid doing?"
"He's alive, at least." Cipher spared a glance in the general direction of where he thought the Strike was.
…
Kira's cockpit blared another warning, this time about this right arm joint.
This guy's gotten better. Kira thought, swinging his beam sabers a little wildly to force the GINN away again.
Damn. I can't get close. Yzak mused, his confidence granting him a measure of calm.
Kira opened fire with his head Vulcan (the right one was damaged and wasn't working anymore) at Yzak, intent on forcing the white GINN to dodge to its right.
The GINN threw its sword at the Strike instead.
"Whoa!" Kira flinched when the sword flew inches away from the Strike's main camera.
He then saw the GINN charge forward at full power, and spun with his beam saber outstretched.
Figures. Yzak used his imbalance from losing a thruster to spin away from the Strike's saber, landing near his thrown sword and retrieving it.
He then felt the hairs on his neck stand up and hopped to his right, avoiding a shot from the Strike's beam rifle.
"Dearka! How's it looking up there?!" Yzak looked down at his panels: less than half energy left.
"I don't see how the hell I'm supposed to hit him." Dearka groaned, looking at his targeting computer go insane trying to predict Blaze's flight path.
Yzak turned and saw the Strike focus on the Blitz.
"I have him." Yzak heard one of his squadmates say.
The GINN in question pulled out its machine gun and bazooka, and fired haphazardly toward the Strike.
Kira jumped and flipped in midair, kicking up the sand before spinning to orient himself towards his new attacker.
"Shiho, you moron!" Yzak growled as he charged at the Strike.
The Strike threw one of its Armor Schneider knifes at Yzak's GINN.
Yzak, once more, used his imbalance in thrust to sidestep the knife without stopping his charge.
Damn. Kira was conflicted between continuing to engage the GINN that was shooting at him and turning to handle the tough, damaged white one.
"Kira!" He heard Mu shout.
Mu La Flaga's Skygrasper dashed into the area and fired its AGNI cannon between the Strike and Yzak's GINN, forcing Yzak to stop his charge.
"This is getting out of hand. Intercept that jet!" Yzak ordered.
Dearka, of course, ignored him because he has a job to do.
"Whoa!" Mu pulled up and rolled to dodge the sudden increase in anti-air fire from the GINNs. "Kid, you alright down there?!"
"Not for long." Kira looked down. He had about 10 percent of his energy left. What do I do?
…
"Blaze!"
"I'm working on it!" Blaze snarled into his radio, ignoring the low energy warning blaring in his cockpit.
"Shit. Talisman! Get on it!" Cipher yelled.
"Trying!" Talisman turned hard to keep up with the yellow winged Wyvern, but it braked suddenly and suddenly he found himself being chased instead.
"They must be running out of gas, too." Mobius One muttered.
"Doesn't look like it." Cipher gritted his teeth, enduring the g-force of his maneuver as he tried to get behind the Wyvern with the Heartbreak emblem.
"Blaze! Watch your altitude!" Talisman saw Blaze suddenly dive down.
"Like I have a choice." Blaze muttered, going down as low as possible before pulling up, kicking a cloud of dust behind him.
"That won't help you, kid." The pilot of the Heartbreak Wyvern said over the common frequency.
"Yeah, yeah. You still haven't caught me yet, Bartlett." Blaze said.
"That's Captain Bartlett to you, kid." Bartlett grinned. "Keep flying like that and you'll give Nagase a heart attack."
"She'll be just fine." Blaze spun and dodged another streak of bullets. "Keep shooting and she'll have your behind."
"It'll be just fine." Bartlett grinned despite himself. "You need a potty break, kid? Your flying is getting sloppy."
"I could use a nap." Blaze admitted, pulling level for a second.
…
Dearka's targeting computer suddenly registered a lock.
Dearka instinctively pulled the trigger even as his mind began to ask "how?"
…
"Blaze! Break!" Sky Eye saw one of the ZAFT blips suddenly shine.
Blaze's craft inverted and dodged downwards.
A green beam flew over his craft, cooking the VTOL engines.
Blaze levelled out his craft as it billowed out smoke.
…
Shit. Dearka thought as he fired a second shot a little lower than normal.
…
"Blaze! Are you ok?" Mobius One flew next to Blaze's craft to assess damage.
Captain Bartlett, in a show of comradery for his fellow Osean pilot, broke off the attack.
"Yeah. Shit." Blaze pulled hard on his stick and felt his craft fail to respond. "I've lost my main engines. I'm heading back before this gets any worse."
"You should just bail out." The Yellow Wyvern said coolly, flying in fast with Talisman hot on his tail, firing away with his machine guns to little effect.
"Oy." Captain Bartlett started to say.
"But nothing; this is a battlefield." Yellow 13 locked onto Blaze's staggering aircraft.
And fired a missile.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Blaze sighed, and ejected from his aircraft.
Yellow 13's missile impacted the Spearhead, shredding its engines and sending the plane spiraling toward the ground billowing smoke.
…
Talisman felt the hair on his neck stand up, and debated on evading for a brief moment.
In that brief moment, the second beam from the Buster struck his fuselage.
…
"Razgriz four! Talisman!" Sky Eye could do nothing but watch as the Spearhead's signature vanished from his display.
…
"Talisman! Razgriz Four! Respond!" Mobius One yelled, watching Talisman's craft spiral into the ground.
"I'm fine!" Talisman's radio crackled with interference. "Bailing out!"
"This is a battlefield, Mobius One. Don't forget that." Yellow 13 said coldly, flying gracefully through the sky.
"Yeah." Mobius One agreed tonelessly.
Yellow 13 then felt bullets impact his fuselage. What the… he inverted to dodge the unknown attack…
…and then saw the Spearhead with the Ribbon emblem fly up at him.
"Mobius One, engage." Upon hearing those three words, Yellow 13 felt a shiver run through his spine.
Yellow 13 then inverted and dove, and the two fighters engaged high in the sky.
…
"Good shot, Dearka!" Yzak laughed in a momentary pause in his fight with the Strike.
"Woohoo! Yeah!" Dearka couldn't help but punch the air in his joy.
…
"Razgriz one down, Razgriz four down. All units, be careful." Kira heard Sky Eye say over the radio.
"What happened?!" He demanded, paying his own battle scant attention.
"Blaze has ejected, Talisman's status is unknown." He heard Sky Eye say, and then heard the impact of bullets on his armor.
His own energy tank then ran out.
"What the…" Yzak momentarily stopped as the Strike's color was replaced with a grey tint.
"His phase shift is down. Finish him off!" Dearka laughed, still running high on his adrenaline.
"Damn straight. All units! Converge and kill it!" Yzak roared.
…
"Mu. Give me the launcher pack."
"Uh…ok. Detaching." Mu La Flaga flew down despite himself and detached the Launcher pack over the Strike.
…
"Destroy it!" Yzak raised his machine gun along with his squad of three other GINNs, pouring fire on the Strike
The Strike jumped and spun while detaching its wings.
Two blurs shot out from its arms, and two of the GINNs fell as a pair of beam sabers embedded themselves into their cockpits.
"What the hell?!" Yzak gasped as the Strike grabbed the AGNI launcher.
…
"Bartfield to all BaCues! The rebel elements have broken! Converge and attack the EFA forces!"
Andrew Bartfield watched the battle from the Lesseps, having done his share of head shaking from the rebel's determination in the face of overwhelming odds and having done next to no damage against the BaCues despite losing what is nearly all of their forces.
"Roger, captain!" The BaCue squad captain grinned. "The demons aren't anything after all…Cruset must be losing his touch."
Six BaCues (some with scratched paintjobs) rolled towards the Strike.
…
The Strike loaded the Launcher pack, refilling its battery.
"To all ZAFT units." Kira said with his voice devoid of emotion. "If you do not wish to die, eject now."
"What the hell is he on?" Dearka thought.
"I got him." Yzak's remaining alive squadmate insisted with its bazooka pointed at the face of the Strike.
"Enough! Shiho, pull back!" Yzak snarled. The Strike was giving him a very, very bad feeling.
"Strike...destroying targets." Kira's pupils seemed to have disappeared, and his purple eyes fixated on the closed target: Yzak's GINN.
"Yzak! Watch yourself!" Dearka warned, also getting that feeling that this Strike was suddenly very, very bad news.
Yzak spun with his imbalanced thrust and delivered an overhead sword slash toward the Strike.
The Strike responded by dodging the blade by turning a quick full circle, and upon turning around to face the GINN again he instantly stabbed the GINN's head with one of its knives.
Yzak jumped back, trying to get his bearing as his main camera crackled with static.
He then heard a loud clang as the Strike threw its knife into his GINN's sword arm.
Yzak looked up, and the Strike was suddenly in front of him.
He heard a loud, grating noise, and then the Strike crouched down with its newly recovered dagger in hand. The Strike then struck upwards.
Kira's swing caught the GINN's sword arm at the wrist and he took the sword for himself, discarding the GINN's severed hand.
"Yzak!" Dearka fired at the Strike, causing it to stop for a second as Yzak pulled away.
"Thanks. Shit, what the hell is going on?!" Yzak felt cold sweat run down his back.
"Yzak team, this is Waltfield; pull back to the ship." He heard over the radio.
"Yzak team, roger." Yzak looked at the Strike with a scowl.
…
"I got your long range death right here, buddy." Dearka snarled, firing another shot from his long range beam rifle.
And immediately heard his damage alarm blare.
"When did he…?" Dearka looked at the Strike with its AGNI launcher in its right hand.
"Out of my way." Kira murmured.
"Dearka! We're getting out of here!" Yzak looked at the Buster with its left arm and half of its beam rifle missing.
"I got ya." Dearka took a calming breath; it didn't help him much. "Is that for real?" He wondered as he ran from the battlefield.
"Captain Waltfield, this guy's acting weird. Watch yourselves." Yzak warned.
"Understood, kid." The BaCue captain drawled.
Yzak sighed despite himself.
…
The BaCue squad met the Strike as it walked toward the Lesseps.
"I got him." The BaCue captain said confidently, rolling forward at maximum speed with its mouth-mounted beam blades active.
The Strike didn't bother to maneuver, and instead pointed the AGNI launcher at the BaCue and blasted it into tiny bits.
The rest of the BaCues fired volleys of missiles at the Strike.
The Strike charged forward at maximum power, using its head-mounted Vulcan to remove the missiles in its path with almost surgical precision while counterfiring with his shoulder-mounted gatling gun, shredding two more BaCues in his charge.
"Damn, retreat! Retreat!" one of the BaCue's riders said, turning his unit around and trying to run away.
"Eject." Kira said coldly over the common frequency, before engulfing the three remaining BaCues with a sweeping shot from his AGNI launcher.
…
"All…all BaCues destroyed." An operator on the Lesseps said shakily. That wasn't even a minute!
The bridge on the Lesseps was silent save for the beeping of the computers and equipment, as all the personnel watched the Strike stride from the burning wreckage of BaCues from one of the BaCue's cameras before it fizzled out and died.
Because everyone was so focused, the threat alarm was loud enough for the entire ship to hear (it felt like).
"What's going on?" Waltfield demanded.
"New targets, from up high! Three fighters!"
…
Tolle's flight of bombers dove at the Lesseps, having shielded themselves from the Lessep's sensors by hovering low against the sand dunes.
"They're gonna open fire on us soon. As soon as you have a clear firing solution, drop everything you have!" Tolle ordered.
"Got it!" His wingmen acknowledge shakily.
C'mon, c'mon…
The sky over the Lesseps began to fill with anti-air fire.
"Damn." Tolle muttered as he rolled to dodge the streams of fire.
"I-I'm hit! Disengaging!" His wingmen shouted in panic, breaking off his attack run the instant his plane was caught by anti-air fire by flying high, straight, and slow. It was shredded by anti-air fire moments later.
"Stay with me, three!" Tolle said, just in case his last wingman got spooked.
Tolle's flying was remarkable enough that the nameless wingman was able to survive by flying close to him, regardless of how much terror was in the poor guy's head.
…
"They're not stopping!" A Lesseps operator shouted in panic.
"Continue fire! Don't panic!" Bartfield barked.
…
C'mon…c'mon…! Tolle's eyes darted down to his rangefinder. He regretted suggesting to the technicians that they should give him nothing but radar-guided munitions; the Spearhead's odd computers ensured that while the munitions had no lock they would refuse to fire.
He made a mental note to ask Kira to help rewrite it if he…no, when he got out of this fight alive.
Distance…2000…1500…
Tolle pulled up slightly and twisted into a sharp dive.
Moments later, his radar beeped a lock.
"Bombs away! Bombs away!" He shouted, releasing his payload onto the Lesseps.
"Fire, fire, fire!" His wingman pulled up along with Tolle, accelerating away from the land ship at maximum possible speed.
"This is Tolle, bombing run on enemy land ship a success!" Tolle said happily, once he was out of the anti-air gun range of the Lesseps.
"Sky Eye, roger." Tolle noted that Sky Eye sounded a little stressed. "Standby for your next orders."
"What, we don't get to reload?"
"Negative. Stay in the air."
"Fine." Tolle huffed.
…
…
Yellow 13 was having the time of his life.
While running away from a grim reaper, Yellow 13 couldn't help but be elated at the prospect of sharing the sky with someone so skilled.
Even as his plane's computer showed multiple hits to the fuselage, and countless other injuries that threatened to drop the plane at any second.
"Oy, you're at your limit, two." He heard Captain Bartlett say over the radio.
"I am aware." Yellow 13 said quite peacefully.
…
"Mobius One, you're almost out of gas." Cipher warned.
Mobius One didn't reply, but continued to spew machine gun ammo into the Yellow 13's Wyvern.
"Oy. Ribbon. They're alive, chill." Cipher sighed.
…
"Damn." Yellow 13 felt his craft shudder. "I guess he's not gonna let me go with just a warning."
"Yellow 13, bail out." Captain Bartlett said. "This isn't going well for us."
"Yeah. Punching out." Yellow 13 ejected from his Wyvern, watching it turn into a ball of flames from Mobius One's continued assault. This is war, after all. He thought idly.
"Shit, now what?" Bartlett muttered to himself.
…
"Mobius One, RTB immediately, that's an order." Sky Eye said. "The Lesseps has been crippled, mission objectives have been accomplished."
Mobius One took some deep, heavy breaths. "Understood. Mobius One, returning to base."
"Really? The Lesseps is down? Who got the kill?" Cipher flew into formation behind Mobius One.
"Tolle's flight gets the honors." Sky Eye sighed.
…
"The Lesseps is down?"Yzak stared at the smoking ship.
"It takes a lot more than that to sink that ship." Dearka said with a laugh, despite his unit's injuries. "Waltfield is probably playing dead."
"I sure as hell hope so." Yzak looked around at the smoldering field around the ship. "Otherwise we're gonna fry out here."
"What happened to the Strike?" Dearka asked, scanning his radar.
"Don't know. I hope he burns to death." Yzak mutters.
…
"Tolle flight, I'm sending you coordinates, patrol the area as outlined." Sky Eye said as he sent some numbers to Tolle's flight computer.
"Eh? Why do I have to do this now of all times?" Tolle whined.
"The Strike's signal disappeared in this region. I want you to check it out."
"On it." Tolle's playful whining vanished instantly. "Three, come with me."
"Roger that, boss." Tolle did just dive bomb a warship and disable it by himself, after all.
…
"Neil." Sky Eye turned to look at Cagalli.
"What is it?" Neil said tersely.
Cagalli frowned slightly. "Is the battle over now?" She gestured to what was left of the rebel forces with a tilt of her head.
Neil caught her meaning: the rebel forces were simply too worn down at this point to continue. "I think so. We're still trying to ascertain the situation, but as far as we know all sides are pulling back for the moment."
Cagalli let out the breath she was holding. The base had raised a cheer when it became known that the Lesseps was damaged, satisfying their main objective, but the more pragmatic members of the group made it clear that taking out a single ship won't fulfill their end goal of driving ZAFT out of their territory.
Of course, losing what is essentially all of their combat power didn't help matters.
Just then, Neil's communication system beeped.
"Sky Eye here." He said instinctively.
"Uh…This is the Archangel, is…is the Razgriz team available?" He heard a young girl's voice over the intercom.
"This is ISAF AWACS unit, callsign Sky Eye. Razgriz is currently en route back to base; what do you wish to convey?"
"Uh. Tell them that the Archangel is coming to pick them up; we got some bad news." What could it be?
"Roger."
…
"Sky Eye to all friendly elements: allied asset 'Archangel' is en route to the area." Cipher heard over the radio. "They have some new information. Patching their comms unit through."
"Uh…" He heard Miriallia sound utterly confused about what's going on. "The EFA has sent new information: they're going to stage an attack to recapture the northern coasts of Africa in two weeks' time."
"Two we- what the hell are they waiting that long for?!" Cipher demanded.
"We're…we're not entirely sure either." Cipher could hear Miriallia's shrug. "But either way they're expecting all units within the theatre of operations to participate in the battle."
"Not happening." Mobius One said coldly.
"I know, right?" Miriallia laughed. "So our goal is to pick you guys up and get the hell out of here as soon as possible; stay put and stay safe!"
Mobius One heard Natarle say something, probably to the effect of "don't talk like that when you're on duty". He smiled slightly.
"So that's how it is on our end; how's the support effort going?" Miriallia asked.
Tolle chose this moment to report in. "Tolle here! I see the Strike! It's Phase Shift is down and it isn't moving!"
"Sky Eye, roger. Send us your coordinates." Neil then turned to Cagalli. "Do you have any rescue assets available?"
Cagalli shook her head.
"Mu La Flaga here." Mu's Skygrasper flew low, circling around a spot in the desert. "I have Razgriz One's beacon; should I send you the coordinates?"
"Do it." Neil commanded.
"Wait! What happened?!" Murrue demanded, hijacking Miriallia's line.
"We sustained losses during the battle." Sky Eye said tersely. "I suggest you have medical facilities prepped and ready to go the moment you arrive."
There was a moment of silence. "Right. Got it." Murrue said distractedly.
.
.
.
{ === + === }
This continues to feel a little weird.
But we're plowing along~